Managing Anxiety and Mental Health Medications
- capesandcrowns203
- Dec 23, 2025
- 3 min read
Effective management of both anxiety and mental health medications requires a comprehensive approach to achieving long term well-being. Picture this, you are on a tight deadline conscientiously working to complete a project. You are exhausted and your manager continuously badgers you to ask when it will be completed. When you send a draft of the project there are an overwhelming number of edits, many of which are superficial. Your content and visual presentation is heavily critiqued, even the font you use is inappropriate.
You are stressed, your head pounds, your heart races, and you begin to feel dizzy, sweaty, and short of breath. Terrified, you decide to go to urgent care, certain that you are having a stroke or a heart attack. Once you explain your symptoms, you are sent to the emergency room. After a workup including vital signs, blood tests, and an echocardiogram is completed, a physician comes to explain what's going on. She explains that all of your blood tests are normal, thereby refuting a diagnosis of stroke, or cardiac arrest/abnormality. She asks questions about your stress level and your coping methods. The physician informs you that you experienced a panic/anxiety attack. A panic attack is a “sudden episode of intense fear or anxiety and physical symptoms, based on a perceived threat rather than imminent danger.” She suggests that you seek professional counseling and prescribes Xanax (Alprazolam) for anxiety and Lexapro (Escitalopram) for depression. As you try to understand what has happened, many thoughts swirl through your mind- Am I crazy? How did I mistake a panic/anxiety attack for a life threatening condition? Will I get back to normal?
You should applaud yourself for seeking help for your health concerns. Anxiety disorders are among the most common mental health conditions, affecting millions of individuals around the world, significantly impacting daily functioning and overall quality of life. Women more than men experience panic disorder with varied frequency. Learning how your anxiety is triggered and taking steps to prevent and mitigate the triggers will improve your life.
Your thoughts shift to the medications. What will these medications do to me? Are they habit forming? You remember all the stories you have heard about mental health medications. They make you drool and have uncontrollable movements. They make you gain weight. They limit your focus. They make you feel like you are in a cloud. They make
you so sleepy you cannot function normally. You wonder, is it possible to get better without taking the medications?
Medication affects people in different ways, and it may take several tries to find the right medication or right amount of medication that works, especially with mental health medications. Additionally, they are not like pain medications or antibiotics where relief is seen in hours to days, they may take several weeks to work. Keep notes of your response to your medications and share them with your healthcare provider. As of 2021, 65 million people (1 in 5) were prescribed medication to help them cope with stress, anxiety, or depression, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
As you navigate through this condition you may also find yourself getting pulled into the stigma or perceived shame of mental illness and taking mental health medications. This feeling makes it more difficult to take the positive actions of taking your medications as prescribed, receiving regularly scheduled professional counseling, and practicing healthy
behaviors such as getting adequate rest, eating a balanced diet, and regular physical exercise.
The mind, and emotions, are other parts of your being that need care, attention, and treatment especially when there is a health concern. Mental health is deeply connected to physical health. Consider this, if you scraped your knee, you would care for it right away. Identifying anxiety, collaborating with your healthcare provider, and taking appropriate mental health medications and treatments will support your mind, body, and spirit to allow you to be your best self.